World's longest yard sale

Route 127 from Ohio to Alabama is the site of the world's longest yard sale. It starts the first Thursday in August through to the following Sunday. It is too late for this year, but info about next year is available.

Gross National Happiness

I am reading a book about Baltistan (in the Himalayan region of Pakistan) that is helping me get over my "we're doomed!!!" phase. Everyone there is poor, basically just clinging to the side of a high mountain, but what they value most is literacy. I don't see why we won't maintain literacy after the crash. It was also in the Himalayas, in the tiny country of Bhutan, that the king decided that there needed to be a new way to define prosperity, that would measure actual well being rather than consumption. He called this measure "Gross National Happiness". An important point was that there should be an infusion of moral and cultural values into the core of the economic policy, something that has been clearly lacking in the US. In using instead the "Gross National Product" to define prosperity, we have clearly been following strategies that have left people with more material possessions, but less psychological well-being. In the New Economics Foundation (NEF) study of 2006 of world happiness the USA ranked at the 150th place.
In a white paper on Gross National Happiness, Med Yones of the International Institute of Management suggests that the role of government should shift from managing economic growth to socioeconomic development.

"American public policy should shift its focus from:

The standard of living to the quality of life

Material possessions to well-being (physical, mental, and material)

Unsustainable economic development to sustainable environmental development

Consumerism to investment

Economic-driven education to socioeconomic-driven education

Government can also make substantial improvements by implementing the following recommendations:

Simplify people’s lives through reformed civil laws and taxes.

Establish new tax and budget policies in line with public mental, emotional and physical wellness goals. For example, provide funding for the promotion of positive psychology and cultural education in schools, workplaces and public media.

Shift policy priority from waging wars - a major source of socioeconomic stress and long-term liability - to local socioeconomic development and foreign collaboration."

So, as the flawed economies of mainstream western development model, based on capitalism and free-market enterprise, plunge over Himalayan scale cliffs, it could be just the opportunity we need to reconstruct our economy on a much improved model that is based on principles of life and well being.

Wondering Where We are Going...

From the Wall Street Journal

President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is considering an economic-stimulus program that will be far larger than the two-year, half-trillion-dollar plan under consideration two weeks ago, according to people familiar with the team's thinking.

ie They are talking a trillion!!! (A one with 12 zeros!!!!)
I found some blogposters (Rich) at CR to distill what that means:

The solution is to float the biggest possible stimulus package, pump it into stimulating production of goods and services, and simulataneously tank the dollar to make those goods and services very affordable to the world.

Conversely, you could tank the dollar first and then float the big stimulus package possible. The order makes no difference. I actually think they are tanking the dollar in advance of the stimulus.

The bagholders are all long-term debt holders and pensioners of dollar-denominated assets. Also, foreign exporters into the U.S. market.

The dollar will fall against all other major currencies. But beyond that, all major currencies will fall against the value of goods and services. It's called hyperinflation.

Apparently, this is how certain problems will be "solved". Social Security will be solved if the inflation adjustments lag with true inflation. It's not hard to imagine that happening! Too bad for the elderly who depend on the payments or those of us who would like to retire some day. Obviously, inflating the currency will also solve the problem of overpriced housing.
And where is the trillion going to come from? Already the US owes more than it can possibly pay back. The way to stay solvent in this scenario is to debase our currency against other world currencies, thereby making the debt cheaper, relative to goods. My thinking on a response to all this is very down to earth. It's time to start living like Uncle Jon and get good at gardening and have a lot of tools. Be able to produce something.

PS Slightly off topic but not really: I just finished reading "Mortgaging the Earth", a book on the World Bank. In that book we learn that Larry Summers, Obama's choice for head of the National Economic Council, in 1991, while serving as chief economist for the World Bank, authored a private memo arguing that the bank should actively encourage the dumping of toxic waste in developing countries, particularly "under populated countries in Africa," which Summers described as "UNDER-polluted."

Barry O'Bama helping the economy already!

So voting is just getting underway and already the idea of an Obama win is helping the economy. The stocks are up, way up! Since the economy is largely based on how people feel about their financial prospects, consumer confidence goes a long way to making a measurable difference in the economic outlook. Seems democrats get the benefit of typically being associated with economic prosperity. (Carter is the exception to that I suppose). I don't believe there is an actual trend of democratic policies always helping the economy, but as stated above sometimes it being in people's head is enough to make a difference. More likely the economic growth and contraction cycles are in sync with the alternating Dem-Rep cycles. One thing is for sure though, the Bushites sure did their fair share of screwing it up.

Locavore

Locavore was the 2007 word of the year for the Oxford American Dictionary. A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced in his or her local economy. After reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Guy and I have been making efforts to change our eating habits.

The globalization of our food supply now means that that the average distance our food travels is 1,500 miles. Precious fuel is used in transporting, refrigerating and processing these foods. If every citizen in the U.S. were to eat one local meal per week, we would reduce our oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels per week.

Food grown elsewhere means that the money spent on it leaves our community. Food bought locally triples the income for our local economy. Not to mention the longer the food travels, the more flavor is lost. Tomatoes in January are just disgusting. Eat foods that are in season, eliminate prepared and processed foods, and embrace slow foods, made exactly to your own personal preferences.

Greenbelt has a fabulous new farmer’s market that we visit every week, before doing any of our regular grocery shopping. Everything is grown or produced within 100 miles of Greenbelt. They even have ice cream! No farmer’s market near you? Get a CSA subscription, or if in Maryland, check out our new virtual farmer’s market at http://foodtrader.org/.

Inspired by the book, we started making our own cheese. We found that at the local chain, MOM’s, we can buy organic milk that is produced in nearby Pennsylvania and is not ultra-pasteurized (the ultra-pasteurized milk usually found at the grocery store can no longer be used to make cheese). So far we have just been making mozzarella, but we hope to expand soon. We have a new bread recipe that uses some of the leftover whey. The bread is light, tasty and firm, it is excellent for our regular sliced bread needs. We do our best to drink our own homebrewed beer, though we are going to have to look into local ingredients. We did just get a hand-me-down grain mill!

In previous years, we have hauled away our leaves and garden waste to the city’s composting facility where it is shredded and composted. In the spring we haul it back for mulch. It is not a very efficient process. We have started composting, and we are planning a larger garden for next year. We are considering buying local, in season produce and preserving it for the winter by drying, freezing or canning. When I buy prepared foods like salsa or spaghetti sauce, I select based on the closest factory. So far, we have been buying Linnea locally grown peaches or tomatoes to eat instead of the bananas we used to feed her. I can’t bring myself to give up chocolate, yet.

Obviously living off our land is not going to happen, since we only have about 10x10 feet of partial sun, and not much more shade, but every bit makes a difference. Whole Foods and even Walmart have made efforts to provide their consumers with local produce. So far, we like the movement. Our locavore efforts have improved the quality of our diet, reduced our carbon footprint and strengthened our neighborhood economy.